Look! It’s a roly-poly, wholly holy jellyroll!…

Good morning…. Making such a grandiose statement so early, before actually seeing any of the day, is, perhaps, somewhat optimistic, but, I figured a bit of positive attitude can’t hurt…. We’ll see how that goes…. Given the hour (0200), my physical status, (shaky, with pain at about level 7 much of the time), and the state of my mind (sleepy, grumpy, and other dwarfish adjectives… to wit: funky…), a lot of the optimism may be unwarranted, but, hey, life’s tough, and then you die. So, how else to react, than to shake our heads, sip, breathe, sip, and trundle on?….

All you can do is all you can do…. Therefore, that’s what we’ll do….

Shall we Pearl?….

“Before he became a hermit, Zarathud was a young Priest, and took great delight in making fools of his opponents in front of his followers. One day Zarathud took his students to a pleasant pasture and there he confronted The Sacred Chao while She was contentedly grazing. “Tell me, you dumb beast,” demanded the Priest in his commanding voice, “why don’t you do something worthwhile? What is your Purpose in Life, anyway?” Munching the tasty grass, The Sacred Chao replied “MU”. (The Chinese ideogram for No-Thing.) Upon hearing this, absolutely nobody was enlightened. Primarily because nobody understood Chinese.” — Camden Benares, “Zen Without Zen Masters”

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Today is a national holiday, designed to celebrate nationalism, a subject I tend to avoid/ignore as much as possible…. However, it does give me the opportunity to include an iconic American band for your listening pleasure…. Today’s choice is one of the finest acoustic performances, ever…. Enjoy!….

“Silence can be the biggest lie of all. We have a responsibility to speak up; and whenever the occasion calls for it, we have a responsibility to raise bloody hell.” — Herbert Block

“… so long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.” — Voltarine de Cleyre

One might think, being up so early, I’d be able to rant; however, such an event requires a delicate balance of energy and angst. A lack of either one can sink a rant before it begins. Such is the case today; I got so little sleep, I’m too tired to think clearly… THAT is why you get an archived discussion today…. It is on a subject near and dear to my curmudgeonly heart, and, not to shabby, all things considered…. Enjoy, ffolkes, for what it’s worth….

From 3/15/2013:

“Republican views of the world differ from Democratic views of the world. The reason for this is that these views are based on different compilations of misinformation.” — Smart Bee

There are moments, such as this one, when I believe the people, or person, who put together the database known to me as Smart Bee, is perhaps the most intelligent creature on this planet….. I’ve been ranting about politicians for years, trying to show people how dangerous it is to believe ANY of the stuff that either party is slinging at us to try to convince us they are worthy of our votes. Now, in one short aphorism, of two lines, we are given a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of the crap we hear from them…. Essentially, this says that every one of them is full of shit, and everything they say and do is destined to fail, because it is ALL based on incorrect information, or, to be more accurate, on unwarranted assumptions about reality…..

The most important part of this description is its impartiality of indictment. Both parties are brought into scrutiny, and found wanting, of any real knowledge of the truth, because they are both basing all of their premises on false beliefs, just for starters. Add to that, since they are politicians by choice, their genetic predisposition is to self-aggrandizement, and they show an inherent inability to tell the truth. It becomes rather easily seen why our society has become, well, insane…. It’s a short trip to crazy from where they begin the journey…. and they don’t take any detours on the road….

You see, both parties are convinced of a complete falsehood, one with which humanity has been struggling for centuries…. This lie is so basic, it colors and affects everything they do to try to manipulate the world into going the way they wish it to go. As long as they continue to try to do this, our society is doomed to failure in the long run, for the lie goes against the very nature of reality…. Simply put, these people believe they can legislate morality…. They believe that they can make laws, and people will go against their very nature to follow them, in spite of the fact that the law they propose is contrary to what comes naturally to humans, to wit: self-centered, grasping behaviors that only benefit the perpetrator, and no one else…..

We have laws against stealing…. and the most accomplished thieves we see in our culture wear suits and live in Washington D.C. We have laws against killing each other, but, people still get killed, and, if the killers do so while wearing a flag, or a badge, they are considered heroes, no matter how many they kill. We have laws that supposedly protect women, children, and the aged, from suffering abuse, but, just look around you, and you will see no end to the depredations that society allows to be perpetrated upon these three most vulnerable members of our society, all very much within the legal limits of the public morality, as given in the law books….

“[…] For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner […] on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. […] That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.” — Carl Sagan

The people who get involved in politics, and religion, for much the same reason, believe they are special, and entitled to take all they can from the universe, because they are the be-all, and end-all of the evolutionary ladder. It says so right there in the Bible….. They don’t care that reality says differently, because their sense of denial has been fine-tuned since shortly after they were born, and they are capable of ignoring facts right up until they slap them in the face…. (Witness the Republican melt-down in the last Presidential election, when the Republican party got slapped in the face by their own lack of contact with reality…..)

In spite of all the massive amounts of evidence to the contrary, these folks believe in their own divine entitlement as the lords of creation, chosen by God to do with this planet as we would, without regard for any of the other creatures that live here with us, or for the beauty and balance of the land that sustains us. As far as they are concerned, other people and animals, and natural resources, are theirs to do with as they wish, with God’s blessing…. The fucking assholes…..

I apologize for the vulgarity, to my readers, but not to those at whom it is directed…. To them, I say, fuck you, and fuck you again…. I regard all politicians, priests, preachers, police, lawyers, judges, and corporate misogynists of all shapes and sizes to be INSANE…. floridly, and viciously insane, without any of the moral standards that the rest of mankind embraces. These assholes are responsible for our imminent demise through environmental destruction of the ecosphere, as well as for the endless preying on the weak and vulnerable to suit their own depravity, and lack of moral fiber.

“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.” — Joseph Conrad

Sexual slavery, corporate collusion to fix wages and prices, legislative corruption and oppression, judicial malfeasance and more corruption, governmental incompetence, religious repression and collusion with politicians, all serve the purposes of the ruling class to a T, no matter how much suffering it causes to others…. As long as they have what they want, nothing anyone else says or does matters at all….

I hate to be a harbinger of bad news, but, I call ’em as I see ’em, and I see what is real…. None of what is wrong in the world will change, until the major portion of mankind makes a change of spirit, and the people, as a whole, decide that the few among us who are bold enough to act must, in fact, act. The evil among us will not go away, or stop, of its own accord, and waiting for them to come around to a more amenable state of mind isn’t going to work, as that just isn’t going to happen.

If we wish to survive, they have to go, and mankind must find a new way to get along with each other than the out-dated ways we have been trying for millennia… Those old ways leave too much power in the hands of people who will give in to the temptation that goes along with such power over others, and must not be allowed to happen any more, not if we wish to survive to see any future at all….. The universe doesn’t care one way or another, so we’ll have to be responsible for our own actions…. as we have always been, and have always been afraid to admit….

“If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will not produce food either.” — Joseph Wood Krutch

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Relative Cynicism, with Caramel Sauce

Absolute stillness follows violent movement, it can happen during a downhill race,as an immovable piece of asphalt pavement meets the once handsome racer’s face.

Yuk, yuk, yuk, said that asshole Moe, after poking both of Larry’s eyes,bashing face, head, & crotch of Curly Joe and only ever got hit with pies.

Lonely moments never really come along when Murphy’s got us in his sights.Not for money, love, or siren’s song will he abrogate his natural rights.

All we can do is sigh, or laugh in pain, as Life portions out our ration of shit.Silver linings melt in the slightest rain, so we may as well learn to live with it.

~~ gigoid ~~

Written 4/7/2013.

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As it turns out, it’s a good thing I was up so early; SB decided to go on strike again…. I managed to pull out a decent nine-star pearl, commenting on Life at Large, but, I have to say, it was much like pulling tree stumps…. I can testify, it ain’t easy…. Enjoy, ffolkes; these are probably, if not actually on the Quiz, required prerequisites….

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” — Anais Nin

“The believer is happy. The doubter is wise.” — Hungarian proverb

“He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.” — Cicero

“They say dogs ignore their reflections in mirrors because they can’t smell them. Dogs, unlike people, are not fooled by what they see.” — Theodore Sturgeon

“Clay is moulded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing. … Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.” — Lao Tzu
“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.” — Bertold Brecht

“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” — Alan Watts

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“For it is the doom of men that they forget.” — Merlin

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Well…. I suppose, since I’m done, I can say this: fucking assholes!. There. I feel better now…. To whom do I refer? I refer to those assholes who call themselves doctors, that’s who. It’s too late to explain right now, but, take it from me, they’re assholes…. Regardless of that, I’ll be back tomorrow, provided nobody in a uniform gets in my way…. I’m NOT in the mood to fuss with them, and might get a bit testy…. See you then, ffolkes, as long as my computer boots up….

Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you;Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark,Theresa, & Richyand everyone else, too…

When I works, I works hard.When I sits, I sits loose.When I thinks, I falls asleep.